- Dante recoils as he sees Cerberus whose “eyes are red” with his “belly swollen”, filled with the “rip[ped] wretches” he slobbered over (6.16-18).

Dante and Virgil meet Ciacco of Florence, also known as "Ciacco the Hog

Ciacco gives a political prophecy about the Black and White Guelfs

Circle Four: Hoarders and Wasters

Dante and Virgil meet Plutus as they travel to the fourth circle

As Plutus is taunting Dante and Virgil, Virgil tells Plutus to “choke back [his] bile and let its venom blister [his] own throat” because “[their] passage through [the] pit is willed on high”. This caused Plutus to collapse “into that dead clay” (7. 8-15).

Dante and Virgil see the hoarders and wasters at war with each other Both sides are pushing big weights towards one another

The sinners are reduced to an unrecognizable state

These sinners are “strain[ing] their chests against enormous weights” [7.26-27] and “rolled them at each other” [7.28] asking each other why they hoard and waste.

Virgil speaks about Dame Fortune

Circle Five: The Wrathful and Sullen

Virgil calls to Phylegas to help them cross the River Styx to Gate of Dis

In the river, Dante and Virgil sees the wrathful and sullen

The wrathful are attacking each other

The sullen live in bottom of swamp with no light

While crossing, Filippo Argenti, one of the wrathful, appears

When Dante sees Argenti’s figure being mangled in his punishment, he “to this day, pray and thank God on it” (8.57). Virgil welcomes this change by telling him “not one unbending graces [Argenti’s] memory (8.44-45).

Circle Six: Gates of Dis

Dante and Virgil come to the Gates of Dis

Virgil tries to persuade the Fallen Angels to let them into Dis

Upon meeting the Fallen Angels, even Virgil is unable to pass them, and Dante is despairing, “in doubt with yes and no dividing all [his] heart to hope and fear” (8.107-108).

Virgil is confident that “nothing can take [their] passage from [them]” so Dante must believe that Virgil “will not leave [him] to wander in [the] underworld alone” (8. 101-105).